The Evolution of Economic Inequality in the Periphery, 1500–1999

Abstract

Chapter 2 looked at the reasons why developing low- and middle-income countries — here referred to as ‘the periphery’ — are prone to odious inequality. We proposed an explanatory framework that emphasizes a combination of transnational ‘outside-in’ and national ‘inside-out’ factors that determine who owns which factors of production and shape the relative returns earned on different factors. Aiming at a general theoretical explanation, Chapter 2 had to take a synchronic look at inequality in developing countries, riding somewhat roughshod over the long historical processes that shaped the ownership of and returns on labour, land, and capital. The aim of the current chapter is to take an in-depth look at the record that can help us to understand the historical detail of the inequality-generating mechanisms that our theoretical overview identified as important.